Coming soon: Packers' 2014 schedule

Apr. 4, 2014

It's been so long since New England quarterback Tom Brady played at Lambeau Field that Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, now in the Packers Hall of Fame, chased him during the Patriots' last game in Green Bay in 2006. File/Press-Gazette Media

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If the NFL follows the same format as last year, the 2014 regular-season schedule will be released on Thursday evening, April 17.

Although the NFL draft has been pushed back two weeks into May this year, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told ProFootballTalk.com earlier this week that the release of the schedule will remain sometime in the middle of April.

Last year, the NFL announced the complete schedule on the NFL Network on Thursday, April 18. In the previous five years, the league released its schedule on a Tuesday, sometime between April 11 and April 20.

All NFL teams know their 2014 opponents and are simply waiting to add dates and times.

Last week at the NFL owners meeting, a Packers spokesman indicated the preseason schedule would also be released sometime in mid-April.

Here’s a review of the Packers’ 2014 regular-season opponents, including last year’s records:

Packers' 2014 road opponents

Assessing Packers' opponents

♦ Road games at Seattle and New Orleans are as daunting as it gets. The defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks at Century Link Field, along with the playoff qualifying Saints at the Superdome, have a major advantage at home with noise levels that are deafening.

♦ Just five of the Packers’ 16 opponents qualified for the playoffs last season and posted winning records in 2013.

♦ The Packers have the 13th-most difficult schedule, with opponents combining for a .504 winning percentage.

♦ For the first time since 2009, the Packers won’t play at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. They played the New York Giants three straight years on the road (2011, 2012, 2013) and the New York Jets in 2010.

♦ The Packers are making their first appearance in Buffalo and Miami since 2006, which was Mike McCarthy’s first season as head coach.

♦ New England and the New York Jets are making their first regular-season appearance at Lambeau Field since 2006.